Environment

Neil joined forces with a group of seven wildlife organisations to stand up for the skylark as part of the MP Species Champion Project, and is working to bring political support to the protection and promotion of this threatened species. Admired through the ages for their ethereal song, the skylark (Alauda arvensis) appears in the both music and literature. …

British presence in the Antarctic matters and has helped protect the region for two centuries. As a continent without an indigenous population (the first human birth took place in 1978) but, with competing claims of interest from other nations, retaining an unambiguous and significant role is necessary to secure our long-term position. The Antarctic is …

Neil managed and expanded his family farming business, ultimately comprising of almost 2,500 acres holding, 3000 ewes and 400 suckler cows. Neil now lets the farm as Farm Business Tenancies but still directly manage the extensive woodland. Neil helping with the lambing on his farm in Northumberland in the early 1970s. Neil shearing a sheep more recently.

Neil served as a member of the Environmental Audit Committee between 2010 and 2015. The remit of the Environmental Audit Committee is to consider the extent to which the policies and programmes of government departments and non-departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development, and to audit their performance against sustainable development and …